In that situation, I'd definitely get serpent and finish resilience off. If you're looking to get into combat seriously, you most definitely want everything transed. Get that done, then work up from there.
I'd hardly call hexes 'meh' - It's a very solid skillset when used correctly and after my little play around with it, am of the mind that the options available to it are certainly underplayed.
Just to advise that the site has received a large number of updates over
the last couple of weeks. Many bug fixes and improvements have resulted
in a very stable and useful service.
If somebody wants to provide me with the full set of modifications to it, along with all pertinent triggers, I'll go ahead and write an accurate script.
Most of the scripts on that page were written by me, so if anybody requires anything, just post here. Granted, I no longer play, but I am always more than happy to help with scripting.